About Karl J. Paloucek

Karl J. Paloucek Articles written 8

Karl J. Paloucek served as Senior Writer at Tribune Media Services for more than 14 years, interviewing a wide array of personalities, from Christiane Amanpour to Anthony Bourdain, from Kate Winslet to Cookie Monster. As Editor-in-Chief at Fanning Communications just outside Chicago, he has overseen the production of numerous magazines and community newspapers, and penned hundreds of features and cover stories on a dynamic range of topics. An avid explorer in the world of music, he has written numerous stories for The Spill Magazine, does freelance public relations for various musician clients, and for decades, has maintained a sidebar career as a composer/performer/producer of experimental music. He spends his spare time with his wife and son, contributing ideas and direction for their puppet-themed YouTube channel entertainmentinc29, and pursuing regular study on the topics of genocide and life in the Soviet gulag system.

Articles written by Karl J. Paloucek

Didn’t Fear the Reaper

Why mortician Jill Sauber made the jump to elder law and estate planning

Imagine becoming a licensed mortician—but just for a while, until you figure out what you really want to do in life. When Jill Sauber’s initial application to medical school was denied and her lifelong dream of becoming a doctor was temporarily derailed, she decided to pivot toward the accelerated mortuary science program at the University of Minnesota.  “I knew it wasn’t going to be my forever job,” says Sauber. “It was kind of an interim thing that I did, thinking I would …

Parallel Practices Make Perfect

David Rintoul’s balancing act as a lawyer, trombonist and award-winning culinary artist

While many attorneys take up hobbies like golf, running, or gardening to decompress from the stress of the day-to-day, David Rintoul’s trombone led him to a whole new and colorful chapter of his life. “I actually took a 30-year break,” he says of the instrument. Like many teens, he stopped playing when he finished high school to focus on other things. It was his own kids, then aged 14 and 16, that got him back into it. “They were appearing in a production of The Threepenny Opera, which …

No Place Like Home

Dane DeKrey, from the ACLU to ruby slippers and beyond 

In 2010, if you had told Dane DeKrey that 13 years later, he would be involved in a legal case surrounding the theft of the fabled ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz, he never would’ve believed it. Back then, DeKrey was just a couple years out of college and worked for U.S. Rep. Earl Pomeroy in Washington, D.C.—a job he loved. “Honestly, if he wouldn’t have lost in 2010, I likely would still be working for him,” DeKrey says. “I got to go back to North Dakota many …

Putting in the Extra Hours

International tax attorney Rob Misey Jr. discusses his exploits as a movie extra

Rob Misey Jr. grew up in the “mean streets,” he says—tongue planted firmly in cheek—of Whitefish Bay. After law school at Vanderbilt, he worked for the IRS in San Jose, Washington, D.C., and then Nashville. Returning to the Milwaukee area in 1999, he has remained with Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren ever since, practicing as an international tax attorney. “That’s tax attorney,” Misey reiterates. “About a year ago, I was flying back from Detroit next to a salesman. He said, ‘What …

Courtroom Drama

Richard Hanus’ deportation case went from the courtroom to the stage to the screen

When Richard Hanus took on Elizabeth Keathley’s case in 2006, he had an inkling that the proceedings would be more drawn-out than usual, but he never imagined it would lead to being portrayed onscreen by Linda Powell, daughter of Colin Powell. But for Hanus, the son of Holocaust survivors, who carries a special empathy for those at the mercy of the U.S. immigration process, it was a case that stirred him to his core. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWeX2HvSdtI “The spouse of this American …

Nearly Parole Officer for a Devil Incarnate

Before family law, Umberto Davi was there for the John Wayne Gacy trial

It’s been more than 40 years since John Wayne Gacy, the mass murderer of more than 30 young men and boys, stood trial for his crimes, and 27 since he was put to death at Stateville Correctional Center. But Umberto Davi still remembers Gacy’s trial as a pivotal time of his life, largely due to the influence of presiding Judge Louis Garippo. At the time, Davi served as felony probation officer to defendants who might be given probation in Garippo’s courtroom, which meant that Davi spent a …

All's Fair in Love and Divorce

Or it is when Sherby Scurto is one of the attorneys

Sherby D. Scurto served as a stenographer during Vietnam, then came to the legal profession late in life, finding that family law presented her with an opportunity to use her talents in a rewarding way.  “The law was always something I was drawn to,” she recalls. “I thought I was going to do employment law, because I had a master’s in [industrial and organizational] psychology, but once I got into the actual practice and I did my first divorce case, I was like a fish in water.” It …

Attorney of Records

DJ Alan S. King remains vital to Chicago’s house music scene

For decades, Alan S. King has been practicing labor and employment law, primarily as a litigator. And for a long time, so far as his colleagues knew, that’s all he was. They had no idea that to thousands of Chicagoans in the city’s original house music scene, and to many more worldwide, King is a legend.  As the group the Chosen Few DJs, King and his crew made a name for themselves at the bridge between ’70s disco and the club culture that evolved on Chicago’s South Side during the …

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